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Brisbane - A forum of NGOs at the G20 summit in Brisbane says the world's economic leaders should take into account social justice when seeking to boost economic growth.
"The 2% additional growth also has to flow the poorest households in the G20," Tim Costello, who chairs the so-called C20 alliance of civil society groups, told dpa.
The G20 members were to commit to boosting their combined economies by 2 percentage points more than the currently forecast growth by 2018.
"If the benefits only go into profits for the top 5%, it is not real growth but entrenches the inequality. Then the G20 would have failed," he said.
The C20 wants the G20 to commit to developing health and education systems and social networks, Costello said, arguing that social infrastructure is as important as hard infrastructure.
He criticized the Australian G20 presidency for placing the emphasis on economic growth without due consideration of global social imbalances.
"Those with the power to change the world have to take into account the most vulnerable, especially children and people living in extreme poverty," said Costello, also the chief of development aid group World Vision.
More than half the world's poor live in G20 countries. "Six hundred million young people are unemployed worldwide. Why don't we have targets in addressing youth unemployment?" Costello told reporters in Brisbane.
"Strong decisive action is needed by G20 leaders."
The C20 met alongside G20 task groups in the run-up to the leaders' summit and submitted a communique urging the forum to address economic inequality, job creation, infrastructure development, climate change, and tax avoidance and corruption.
